Starting Over
by Wisshu
Summary: Leaf finds herself getting bored with life after placing second in the Pokemon League Championship. Soon after finding Red again she decides to go to a new region... But not as herself. With a new identity in a new region Leaf finds herself on an exciting new adventure but what happens when she goes back to Kanto? Will anyone recognize her?


Hello everyone! I'm Wisshu, nice to meet you. This story will mostly be based of the game SoulSilver but with a small twist I added. I'm not sure if anyone's done this before. I hope not. Please read and review. Tell me what you think. I'm a very inexperienced author so please don't be afraid to give me advice or correct any mistakes you see.

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! I am just a regular person writing a fanfiction about my favorite games.**

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**Chapter One**

It was summer at Mt. Silver so the snow was light and there were rarely any storms. The only sound heard was of Leaf's teeth chattering since she did not bring a jacket or coat with her. Luckily, she had a pair of white gloves in her black bag she could wear. She was shivering so violently Red wished he could hug her to help her keep warm but he was probably doing her a favor by keeping his hands to himself. A year on this mountain had probably made his skin feel like ice. It was not what his best friend needed to keep herself warm.

They sat in silence, content with just being in each other's presence after a whole year of not seeing the other. Leaf found it somewhat refreshing seeing her old friend again. A welcomed changed in her boring life. Red had been caught up on just about everything that he had missed in the past few hours Leaf had been with him. To his surprise, his friends had changed a lot during the year he was gone. Blue had become nicer to his Pokemon, a little less arrogant and was slowly changing more and more every day. Leaf, even though she had not said it herself, seemed to have become depressed. This alarmed him for she always used to be happy and all smiles before he had left.

He turned his head to look at her and it hit him like a ton of bricks all over again. How much she's changed. The thing he had noticed first was her hair. It was what she used to take forever fixing in the morning and freaking out about even if it got a little disheveled. It looked horribly messy and damaged. The second were her previously bright and twinkling blue eyes now of which were dull and had dark circles under them. Another was that her face was blank and void of most of emotions, a lot like his own, but there was a miserable look to it. One he was glad he lacked.

Snowflakes made their way down crashing into each other every now and then. Uninterested blue eyes stared at them as they fell slowly in front of her face. She was vaguely aware of her companion on her left staring at her but she paid him no mind. Looking down over the cliff she was sitting on she could not help but wonder what would happen if she jumped off. Would she regret it on the way down? Would she find something still worth living for?

A sigh escaped her lips as she came to the conclusion. Her answer would not change even after so many times of thinking it over. No, she would not regret it and no, there was nothing worth living for anymore. Soon after placing second to Red's first in the Pokémon League Championship, Leaf's life could only be described as boring. The first few weeks after were great but soon she started to become uninterested in everything. Nothing fun or exciting seemed to happen.

Nothing was interesting anymore when you are one of the best trainers in the entire region maybe even the world. Being second best left her with no goals. Before she had achieved such high status her goal was to become one of the best but now that she had done it there was nothing else left. Sure, she could always try to beat Red but what would she do if she did beat him? There was nothing left for her to do.

Going to another region was crossed out because everyone would already know her there and trainers would be swarming to her looking for battles, to see if they were good enough to defeat the runner up for the Kanto Pokémon League Championship. None of them would even come close. The only one who ever beat her was Red.

Blue was close to beating her in the Championship. Their battle had lasted longer than any other battle in the whole tournament. Everyone watching was on the edge of their seat near the end as both of them had only one Pokémon left. But luck was on her side. Blue's last Pokémon was Arcanine while Leaf's was Aqua her blastoise. Arcanine put up a good fight but one hit from Aqua's hydro cannon finished the battle.

Leaf's thoughts wandered to Blue. A smile made its way to her chapped lips as it always does when she thinks about her long time crush. She didn't know when it started but she knew it certainly was not when she left for her journey. They hated each other back then. Red had to stand in between them whenever they were in the same room to keep them from fighting with each other. She knew it had to be before she got her sixth gym badge. She had no idea how though. She never told him how she felt because she feared rejection. Not that it mattered since he and the rest of the world were convinced her and Red were together. All because of an accident that happened to be broadcasted on live TV.

"Thinking about Blue?" the teen next to her asked already knowing the answer from recognizing that particular smile his friend was wearing. Leaf looked over at him just as he finished shaking off the snowflakes that had accumulated on his jet black hair. She was surprised he wasn't wearing his hat until she remembered that she was wearing it. Somewhere in the few hours that they had been together she had slipped it off his head and put it onto hers.

There was no reason for it other than the fact that she always liked wearing hats. They made her feel less self-conscious about the way she looked. She never owned a hat of herself because her black dress made every hat she wore look strange on her but she would always borrow someone else's just to try it on. Usually it was Red's hat that she took.

"I haven't seen him in a while."

"You should tell him," Red said for what seemed liked the millionth time since Leaf had told him she had a crush on Blue. His pikachu which was perched on his left shoulder jumped onto his head, faced Leaf and nodded in agreement to his statement with a soft, "pika".

"No," Leaf said while bringing her hand up to pet the mouse Pokemon on the head.

"Why not?" he asked with what seemed to be a disinterested tone but Leaf could tell it wasn't. Being friends with him for so long made her able to decipher Red's expressions and tones a lot easier than most people. She could tell that he was genuinely curious when he asked that question. Even after getting answers to the same question before, none seemed to satisfy him. It was as if he thought they weren't good enough reasons.

The brunette frowned at his question and put her gloved hand back in the snow where it had previously left an imprint. It was the beginning of a conversation they had repeated many times. It made her think that even talking to her friends was getting boring and repetitive even if she hadn't seen Red in a whole year.

"I'm not having this conversation with you again," she said with indifference in her tone that could rival Red's as she got up from her spot on the ledge. Indifference was her way of hiding what she really felt. It worked for Red so it could work for her, right? In this case sadness and a hint of anger was what she was trying to hide.

Did Red ever feel this way? Empty, lonely, depressed,... _bored_ with life_._

_He has to._ _He's been up here since he won the Championship._

Looking over the edge one last time she frowned knowing if she jumped Red would send his charizard after her and she would get nothing accomplished besides a one way ticket to therapy sessions. She knew she was probably depressed and needed them but she didn't want any help. She saw no solution to her problem and doing therapy would be a waste of time and money.

Touching the pokéballs on her bag's strap, Leaf could not help but feel guilty. What would her team do if she died? Would they blame themselves for not knowing? Would they be happy she was finally gone? Would they even be sad at all?

_No, don't think that way. Of course they would be sad!_ Leaf shouted in her head. She got up and brushed off all the snow on her knee high dress. Taking Red's hat off her head, Leaf placed it back on his.

Grabbing Drabelle's pokéball from the strap of her small bag, Leaf let the dragonite out, positioned herself on the orange dragon's back and gave it a location to fly to leaving Red with only a wave as a goodbye.

Red watched her fly away with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The urge to fly after her on his charizard lingered even after she was long gone. He had a feeling this was the last time he would ever see her for a long time but he knew she needed some time to herself. Something new and exciting. He didn't judge her for her decisions. Everyone handles things differently and whatever was about to happen was Leaf's choice. As long as she's alive, healthy and happy he would be happy as well.

_It would also be a little hypocritical of me to judge her considering she's the only one who has seen me at all in a whole year. It was only by chance that she found me too._


End file.
